Thank You for Waiting: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Thank You for Waiting follows Kate and Eddie, two estranged friends who unexpectedly meet in a therapist’s waiting room after a year apart. As they confront a shared trauma, a delicate dance begins between who they were, and who they have become. Thank You For Waiting explores mental health, loss, and the dynamic nature of friendship.

1. Forget the PR version. When you’re talking to your friends, how do you explain this show to them?Marc: Thank You for Waiting is about two friends who are in the middle of a tragedy and are doing a very poor job of coping while trying to navigate through the awkwardness of their difficult friendship. The best analogy would be it’s as if GIRLS met RABBIT HOLE.Kasey: The play is about two friends who have struggled to heal after a tragedy. They’re forced together by chance, and must decide if their friendship is worth fighting for.

2. Here’s a scenario: After the show some audience members go have a drink. What’s the part of the show you hope they’re discussing?Marc: Which character they sided with – In this play, there isn’t a right and wrong, only shades of grey, so I’d hope for people to argue with who they related to.Kasey: If the characters did the ‘right thing’ or not. Friendships are complicated, and oftentimes when they change it’s difficult to cope with that.

3. What drives your show – character, theme or plot?Marc: Character. This play is just two people and one scene of watching two people navigate a complex conflict/relationship in real time throughout the course of the show.Kasey: Agreed. Character is definitely the driving force of the show. You see two very different people trying to figure out one challenging friendship.

4. In rehearsals, read-thrus, or prior incarnations, what’s the one thing someone said about the show so far that made you (or the team) the most proud? Marc: As writers creating their first show, I think hearing everyone talk about these characters completely independently of us as creators makes us very proud! It’s thrilling to see the characters have a life of their own and a life that resonates with audience members.Kasey: That it’s truthful. That’s been our biggest intention; to create a show that feels honest, truthful, and indicative of the human experience.

5. If money and resources (and even reality) were no object what is the most lavish, luxurious, pointless prop, costume, effect – anything – that you would spend money on for this show? Marc: We would spend our money on making this therapist’s office as real as possible. These characters are going through such a personal, intimate conflict that making the space of the play as specific as possible would help to make the experience as concrete and thus personal to the audience.Kasey: A water bubbler. And a magic couch that weighed five pounds and folded into a tiny cube!

6. What’s the one thing you’re looking forward to regarding the FRIGID Festival itself? Marc: Frigid showcases a wide diversity of work – We’re really excited to see the other shows and interact with the other artists!Kasey: I can’t wait to see what other artists are doing. I was in “Heart of Oak” last year, and the productions at last year’s Frigid were wonderful.

7. Is there a scene, a moment, a gesture … anything at all in the show that you anticipate may get a completely different reaction depending on the audience that night? Marc: I think the pauses will get a different reaction each night. As silences, they’re the audiences opportunity to inject their own thoughts into the character’s mind and depending on who they root for, could cause different reactions.Kasey: There’s a long monologue where Kate reveals the inner workings of her mind. Is it overwhelming? Funny? Sad? I’m excited to see how the audience reacts.

8. What’s your favorite line from the show? Marc: Kasey, I defer to you! We have too many babies for me to pick one!Kasey: My favorite line is Eddie’s- “It’s like (sings Drake song) ‘Started from the bottom now we’re here.’ Except you’re still at the bottom.”

9. What’s the last thing you usually do before the beginning of a show?Marc: Chat with each other! Becoming super connected is really important for us to begin.Kasey: Before we begin we usually do a Meisner exercise to get into character and establish the connection between Kate and Eddie.

10. You scan the audience and you see a face that stops you dead in your tracks – who is it? And why are you shocked?Marc: Annie Baker! Her work has been a huge inspiration to us in creating this play so seeing her in the audience would be wild… and terrifying!Kasey: Amy Poehler! She went to Boston College as well, and we’ve invited her to the show. If she comes, it would be a frigid miracle!

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if Annie Baker showed up and had Amy Poehler with her? And wouldn’t it be even funnier if, before the show, they decided to iron out some huge awkwardness between them … and then the lights came up, and they watched your show, and whatever differences they had melted away in the glow of THEATRE? Wow. You would have saved a friendship that may not even yet exist! Good on you!

Horse Trade Theater Group will present the 10th Annual FRIGID New York Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) February 16-March 6. All shows run 60 minutes, or less. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at http://www.horsetrade.info/